


Catch Me

by lotorotor



Series: Is this a healthy coping mechanism? [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Depression, Food, M/M, Rated mature for suicide, Suicide Attempt, both of the boys are suicidal oops, me projecting onto fictional characters to cope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-03
Updated: 2018-10-03
Packaged: 2019-07-24 19:25:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16181600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lotorotor/pseuds/lotorotor
Summary: Keith is exhausted. So he finds the nearest bridge and prepares to sleep forever.Except, that’s not exactly what happens





	Catch Me

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah If You Couldn’t Tell Theres Heavy Themes Of Suicide Here
> 
> I wrote this to cope with my own mind so

He couldn’t see the point anymore. Yes, theoretically he could continue to exist. He could live his life and just... push forward. He could, oh he could.

But he was exhausted.

The toe of Keith’s black leather boot toed the edge of the bridge, his back against the metal rail. Standing on the side that meant that something wasn’t right. If he let go, he could sleep forever.

Now, that sounded peaceful. After everything, he’d finally have some peace.

A gentle smile stole across his face as his grip on the rail loosened. His pounding heart picked up the pace. He was really going to do it. He was going to fall.

He let go.

Air rushed past him and he closed his eyes, only for them to snap open as his descent was abruptly interrupted by a strong hand gripping the back of his flannel. Looking back, Keith was faced with a long purple face painted with terror and concern. The stranger gently tugged Keith back until he could wrap his other arm around his chest and keep him on the bridge.

“Please don’t jump.” The strangers voice sounded like caramel dipped in honey, even marred with fear as it was.

Keith blinked. “You don’t even know me.”

The arm around his chest tightened. “I could. In fact, I’d very much like if you didn’t deprive me the opportunity to get to know you.”

“For all you know, i could be a murderer. I could deserve this.”

The man let out a breath that may have been a shaky attempt at a laugh. “I highly doubt you deserve to die.”

“But you don’t know for sure.” Keith insisted.

“Am I allowed to find out?” He asked. “How about this. You allow me to treat you to something tonight. Anything you want. You treat me to a conversation. And if you truly are a despicable person as you claim, I’ll drive you back here and you can continue with your little plan.”

Keith hesitated. This was a stranger asking to spend time with him. To get in his car and be alone, however short or long a time that may be. Granted, this stranger had just saved his life, but then, he hadn’t exactly wanted saving. In most circumstances, you were supposed to politely decline the stranger’s invitation, but considering the purple arm was all that was between Keith and plummeting to his death, perhaps these were not most circumstances.

“Please. Think of it as a sort of... last meal if you must. My treat.”

Yeah, okay, these were not normal circumstances.

“Alright.”

* * *

Now, Keith was sitting in a restaurant booth, a juicy burger and curly fries in front of him. The man, who’s name he’d learned was Lotor, sat across from him, sipping on a frappe. 

“So, Keith.” Lotor began, long fingers fiddling with his cup. “Tell me about yourself.”

Swallowing the fry he’d been chewing on, Keith sighed. “I know you’re just trying to, like, remind me that life is worth living or whatever. Don’t bother. My life’s saved, okay? I’ll live to see another day.”

“But what about the next day? The day after? I don’t know that you won’t return to the bridge.”

“It shouldn’t matter to you.” He popped another fry into his mouth.

Lotor leaned forward. “But it does.”

After several moments of silence, he let out a breath. “Okay. You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. I suppose you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. But I was there on that bridge, too. I was there for a reason.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “What, something sent you there to save me?”

“No.” Lotor took a sip of his coffee. “No, but I’ve been through my fair share of shit. I won’t get into it, but everything felt so heavy. I thought if I dropped myself off the bridge, I could drop all of that weight.”

Keith held his breath, wondering if he was hearing this right. If he really wasn’t the only one who’d chosen tonight as the night to end it all.

“Then I saw you, poised and ready to fall. Doing what I’d been planning to do. And suddenly, I couldn’t let you die. Beyond that, i suddenly saw things in perspective, and I couldn’t let me die, either.”

The breath he’d been holding escaped through his nose. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I’m selfish. And I may have saved you, but you saved me, too.”

“Huh.” Keith ate another fry. “What are the odds we’d choose the same night, same place.”

Lotor smiled slightly. “I was wondering the same thing. And, uh,” he coughed, “I don’t really want to go our separate ways and never see each other again. Speaking for myself, having someone new in my life might help immensely. I’d like to hang out properly, without it starting off with a brush with death.”

“Okay.” Keith agreed. He had nothing else to live for; why not start a friendship with this strange man? This man who, apparently, understood him more than he’d thought he would.

This man who’d probably leave eventually, just like everyone else.

Until then, he’d see how things played out.


End file.
